Adjustable car wheel



J. SWEENEY ADJUSTABLE OAR WHEEL.

. I. 7 APPLICATION F|L ED APR. 9. l92i.

Patented Apr. 18, 1922.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET'I.

J. SWEENEY.

ADJUSTABLE CAR WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED APR, 9, l92l.

1,413,072. Patented A p1:18,1922, 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

8*" 6 I I 5 5. 5 H- 7 b:

Inventor.

JOHN swnnnnr, or 'rronon'ro, oncrnaio CANADA.

Ansnsrazenn can wnnnn Application filed April 9;

To all w/lmn, it may concern; i e

Be it known that L J HN SWEENEY,. a subject of the King of Great Britain, and resident of the city of Toronto, county of 'York, Province of Ontario, in the Dominion of Canada have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Adjustable Car Wheels, described in thefollowing specification and illustrated in the accompanylng drawings, that form part of the same.

The principal objects of the invention are to enable-the operation ofs'cars upon different'gauges of track and'to provide a wheel which may be shiftedin a lateral di-- rection in order to alter the gauge between the wheel flanges, and to devise a construction which will be strong and durable and will be easily operated, 5

The principal feature of the invention consists in .the novel construction of Wheel whereby. the position of, the flange may be altered and .it-may 'be 1' securely locked in different positions andwhereby the lateral movement of the wheel flangesection may be eiiected while the car isin operation. In the drawings, Figure lie-a side elevational view showing the outwardside of my. improved wheelp Figure 2 is atransverse section through the line 2-2 of'F-igure lyshowinQ-the shifting rail in contact with the movable flange section or tiref 7 1 I v Figure 3 is an eleva tiio'nal detail of a modilied formof lock operating device.

It has. been found that in various communities there hasbeen a digression made from standard gai'ige in the laying of street railway tracks and with the growth ofthese communities and the entrance of radial systerns the standard railway gauge, which naturally is adopted by the radial line in order to carry railway freight and express cars, does not harmonize. Under such circumstances it has been impossible to operate radial cars upon the street railway lines and inversely the street railway cars are prohibited from operating on the radial lines and it is frequently desirable that an interchange of trafiic be had. The differencein gauge is usually so slight as to render impossible the use of a third rail.

In order to overcome the difliculty, I have devised a form of wheel which will enable cars to travel on either gauge of track.

The wheel herein shown is designed with standard dimensions of tread diameter and Specification ofLett'ersP-atent. Pgpjfigzzmigql A391, 18;, 1922,

1521. Serial 1%. 460,132.

clearances-and it'consists of a hub portion l'which is secured to the axle of the car in the usual manner and has a flanged web 2' supporting a rim A tire member 4 encircles the ieri'phery oi the rim and is narrower than said run andls a sliding fit thereon, being adapted to slide transversely of the said rim. Suitable keys 5 are secured in the rim and extend into the inner perimeter of the .tire 4:, thus rotatably con- At intervals around the perimeter of the rim 3 are arranged the squared sockets 6 which extend radially. inward into the en.- larged portions 7 and the inner perimeterot the tire is provided with tapered recesses 8 zarranged'to register with the sockets 6 when the tire is in different positions on the rim. Bolt members 9 are slidably arranged in the'sockets 6"and'have tapered outer ends fitting the recesses-8 and. said [bolts are and withinthe'sockets 6 are arranged the spiral compression springs 11. These springs ,necting the tire with the rim without interform with. the transverse movement.

formed with round stems 10 around which engaging; the under portions of the bolt heads hold theibolts out'in positive engagement with the recessesin the tire. The

stems; 10. extendradially inward into" the openingslil in the webbed wheel Bell. crank members 13 are pivotally con nected to the inner ends of the bolts 10 and arepivota-lly supported on transverse pivots 14 on the wheel centre. The radial legs 15 of the bell cranks extend inwardly toward the hub and are pivot-ally connected to lugs 16 on aring '17 which rotatably encircles the inner end ofthehubJ The ring is provided with a circular groove18 inwhich is loosely arranged the ring 19 connected with a yoke member 20 which is suitably mounted to operate to move the ring 17 inwardly or outwardly to operate the lock bolts to lock or unlock the tire. A dust guard 21 of disc form encloses the bell crank connections.

A modified. structure for operating the lock. bolts is illustrated in Figure 3. A flanged ring 22 is formed with V shaped slots .23 which engage roller ioins 241 secured to engage the upwardly extending flanges 26 of the operating rail 27 which extend on either side of the wheel. This dou'ble fianged rail is laid between the adjacent ends of the two different gauges of trackwayand in operation the adjustable wheels which are arranged at one side of the car, pass between the upwardly extending flanges of the guide rail. The lock bolts are then operated either by manual or automatic means, releasing the tire. The slde pressure of the guide rail causes the tire to slip" laterally to-accommo- These points are of course important in that the wheel must be strong enough to with,-

stand all strains but thestrength of the keys isonly required to be equal to the strength of the flange engaging the track inits ordinary travel. r V i The mechanism is extremely simple and cannot get out of order and it is strong and durable! 1 The peripheral surface of the rim and the engaging surface of the tire may be lubricated in any suitable manner and iiinecessary may be protected from mud and dirt by a suitable guard, a folding bellows casing 28being shown. The required latitude of movement in a wheel 'ofthis kind is not great, as gauges do not varymore than a few inches but byproviding a wheel that is capable of being shifted laterally to accommodate this diiference in the width of gauge, a very valuable result is achieved, as it enables interchange of service between systems which cannot possible otherwise cooperate. V I

What I claim as my invention is 1. An adjustable car wheel "having the tire movable laterally in relation to the wheel centre, and means carried on the wheel centre for locking the tire in adjusted positions.

2. An adjustable car wheel, comprising, a

wheel centre fixed to the axle, a tire trans versely slidable on said wheel centre and adapted to rotatetherewith, and radial bolts adapted to lock said tire 'in adjusted positions. I l 3. An adjustable car wheel, comprisingla wheel centre having a cylindrical peripheral centre, recesses in the inner'periphery of said tire adapted to receivethe'outer'ends of said radial bolts, and means for with-' drawing said bolts from engagement with the tire.

4. An adjustable car wheel, comprising, a wheel. centre having a cylindrical periphery, a tire slidable and non-rotatable on said wheel centre, bolts radially supported in said wheel centre and adapted tolock said tire in adjusted positions thereon, bell cranks pivotally connected to said bolts and sup ported on the'wheel centre, and means for operating said bell cranks in unison to operatethe boltsradially.v r

'5. An ad'u'stable car wheel centre having a cylindrical periphery, a tire slidable and non-rotatable on said wheel centre, bolts radially supported in said wheel centre and adapted to lock said tire in adjusted'positions thereon, a bell. crank pivotally connected to each of said bolts, a

ring slidably arranged on said wheel centre and operatively connected to 'the'inner ends of said bell cranks, and means for moving said ring inwardly or outwardly to operate said bolts. 7 'j 1 6. In an adjustable car wheel, the combination with the guide rail adapted to exert side pressure against the wheeltire,'of a wheel centre, a flanged tire non-rotatable and transversely movable upon said centre, and means for locking verse movement. 7

' JOHN SWEENEY.

said tire from trans wheel, comprising, a 

